Dreadfully Boring

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions. Great. A children's show? Not really. Humorous parts. The whole thing, really. Lots of chuckles. I miss this show. Later, I recognized Laurence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis from the Playhouse. I liked Jambi and Chairry. I liked Miss Yvonne. She was always dressed up all fancy, with quite the exotic huge beehive hairdo. Then there was Pee Wee himself. He was well groomed, but his clothes were a little too tight. He looked a little smarmy, sort of like an overgrown child trying to be grown up but somehow never quite making it. He was very kind, however. Imagine my surprise when I later saw Paul Reubens as a monkey hunter in the film, Dunston Checks In. Reubens, in real life, did some bad things. His Playhouse was cancelled, but later he got back into acting. I am a degreed historian, actress, singer, dancer, makeup artist, film critic and movie reviewer. I always loved the Playhouse. There is no shame in this. I also loved Howdy Doody and the Mickey Mouse Club, two fabulous TV shows from my childhood.

I watched "Pee-wee's Playhouse" all the time as a kid with my sister. Then the show was abruptly taken off air. Me and my sister had know idea why.It was years later when we learned the reason why...As I'm typing this, memories of "Pee-wee's Playhouse' come gushing into my mind. I remember all of the laughs we had and how we eagerly watched it every Saturday morning. I'll never forget this show and it's wacky humour as it was practically "Desperate Housewives" for kids. It was also a hell of a lot better and smarter than "Barney" 'cause Pee-wee never told kids that strangers are your friends and unlike "Barney", all of the kids had different personalities and likes and Pee-wee never told them they had to be alike.In short, "Pee-wee's Playhouse" was an excellent family show that I'll never ever forget.Thank you for taking the time to read this comment.

as a kid, i had little to no friends. i'd go into my parent's room, curl up and watch pee-wee's playhouse. my self-esteem was bad enough, and i felt like everyone was my friend, and Miss Yvonne made me feel quite pretty indeed. to add insult to my 4th grade injuries, my cousin always made fun of me, which forcively sucked me away from the show. i watch it now and cry a little, knowing that for a long time they we're my only friends. pee-wee's playhouse is meant for the child in the adult, and the soon to be adult in the child. we must feed ourselves with something a little more inane than ourselves to balance us just so we don't end up in the madhouse. pee-wee's playhouse is just that (and, a guilty pleasure is a pleasure none-the-less).

As a child, this show changed me and influenced me in ways I never realized at the time, but now looking back on DVD, I can totally see why I needed this show as a child, and why Pee-Wee and company did an EXCELLENT job of providing pure quality entertainment.Of course, the puppets were my favorite characters as a kid, as I recall my favs. at the time were Dog Chair and the Fish...and of course Floory. :p Nowadays, I appreciate the live actors even more...although I enjoyed them as a kid as well. I'm still confused by some of the earlier cast choices just like I was as a kid.Of course, you have the essentials...Miss Yvonne - Most beautiful woman in puppet-land, and boy is she ever. She taught kids that beauty was far more than just appearance, it also was your state of mind and how you felt on the inside.Cowboy Curtis - Lawrence Fishburne, and I still have a hard time seeing him as Morpheous now. I mean, who's Morpheous compared to COWBOY FREAKING CURTIS? But I digress, Curtis was complex and interesting. A tiny bit of homoeroticness in his character, but I never picked up on that really as a kid.King Cartoon/The King of Cartoons - Two different actors played him. The first wasn't all that great. His approach to playing the King was basically he was this crazy drunk who would stagger out of the back of some taxi with a film projector and drunkenly announce the cartoon (if he could remember to). The second King was waaaay better....he's the one who had a remote control and the flowers introduced. Even as I kid I could tell he was a great actor, and he made the King of Cartoons way likable.In the first season, the whole tone of the show was definitely different from later ones because of the cast, and it would seem Ruebens or Paragon or whoever realized this and let go of the following characters;Mrs. Steve - Never really clear if she was really Pee-Wee's (or ANYBODY's) friend, and all of her appearances were strangely done. I just never got her, or the humor they were going for with her.Dixie - The taxi driver who would do a trumpet solo before introducing King Cartoon. Again, whatever humor or point Dixie's character was making, it went completely over my head. She's either a tough tomboy, a lesbian (which I think is most likely), or just extremely liberated as a female.Tito - The uber-buff lifeguard for Pee-Wee's pool. Now, this character did actually contribute something to the show; namely, a really buff stud walking around in nothing but a bikini and flexing his muscles. Of course, you were either a housewife or gay to appreciate this, because to a kid he was pretty boring and lifeless.Captain Carl - I'm actually surprised he didn't last on the show, considering he was in Pee-Wee's live show. However, Captain Carl as a character was a little out of place on Playhouse. His humor was fine, but it never really operated on a kid level. And Phil Hartman never seemed all that thrilled around kids screaming in his face.Eventually, when the Playhouse is remodeled we are introduced to new cast members, and they all meshed great.Ms. Rene - In a way, she's Mrs. Steve's replacement, in that she's Pee-Wee's portly neighbor who is gossipy and a definite clothes-horse. However, where Mrs. Steve was always negative and moody, Ms. Rene was incredibly happy and light-hearted, and very very funny! "I love the outdoors, As long as I'm on the indoors"Ricardo - I guess you could say Ricardo was a replacement for Tito, but not really. Ricardo was into sports, mainly soccer, and he was always teaching Spanish. One thing I loved about Ricardo was the guy was always laughing, and he seemed to genuinely like being there.Reba the Mail Lady - Reba, perhaps, could be considered a replacement for Captain Carl in the sense that she's the "straight man" who always reacts hilariously to Pee-wee's zany antics. I liked Reba a lot. She pretty much told Pee-Wee what she thought of him on a regular basis (he's insane) and that would egg him on to get her to join in his games. But one thing you could always say about Reba: She was DEDICATED to her job, and you have to respect that.Jambi - My perceptions of him are radically different now as an adult than as a kid. He was obviously going for a homosexual undertone (One time he even said "Swish? Did someone say Swish?") and John Paragon is a brilliant actor when it comes to comedic timing. "Repeat after me in the ancient language of...Jambease!" (Ooooh! :P) Overall, I recommend this series for anyone who appreciates living outside the box and appreciating the artwork Ruebens, Paragon, and company have provided kids and adults.